The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. Our collection consists of work by more than 7,000 artists in the collection, including John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Lee Friedlander, Nam June Paik, Martin Puryear and Robert Rauschenberg. The museum has the largest collection of New Deal art and the finest collections of contemporary craft. Other pioneering collections include historic and contemporary folk art, work by African American and Latino artists, photography from its origins in the 19th century to contemporary works, images of western expansion, and realist art from the first half of the 20th century.

American Art shares a building with the National Portrait Gallery at 8th and F Streets, NW in the vibrant Gallery Place neighborhood of downtown Washington D.C. A recent renovation of the museum's historic main building expanded the permanent collection galleries and created innovative public spaces like the Luce Foundation Center for American Art, the museum's visible storage and study center, and the Lunder Conservation Center. Also of interest is Kogod Courtyard, a glass-enclosed meeting space featuring a cafe and several ongoing public programs.

The museum's branch for decorative arts and craft, the Renwick Gallery, is located a short distance away, at 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

The Renwick Gallery features one of the finest collections of American craft in the United States, including works created from clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood.